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Uncommon star 28 EP

4 Cap

RA 304.5058° · Dec -21.8100° · star

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Score breakdown

· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon 34 pts → Rare
  • Naked-eye visible +8
  • Sun-like G-type star +8
  • Giant star +6
  • Star +3
  • On the zodiac +3
Total score 28

6 more points to reach Rare.

Badges

  • Star · +3
  • Naked-eye visible · +8
  • On the zodiac · +3
  • Sun-like G-type star · +8
  • Giant star · +6

Trivia

What it actually is

  • Spectral class. Its spectrum reads G8III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.
  • Where it is in life. It is a giant. It has already exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen up enormously in response.

Sense of scale

  • In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.

Find it in the sky

  • How to spot it. At magnitude 5.9 you can see it with your own eyes from a dark site, over in Capricornus.
  • Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
  • Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around July — that's when to go looking.

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 5.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).

Properties

absmag
0.926
bv
1.002
constellation
Cap
dist ly
316.3491
luminosity
37.1193
mag
5.86
name
4 Cap
spect
G8III

About 4 Cap

4 Cap is an uncommon star. It lies about 316.3 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Cap, shines at apparent magnitude 5.86 and has spectral type G8III.

Its spectrum reads G8III — a G-type star: the very same spectral class as our own Sun.

How to see it

Look for 4 Cap in the constellation Cap. At apparent magnitude 5.86, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, 4 Cap is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why 4 Cap is an uncommon star

4 Cap scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 5 science badges — Star, Naked-eye visible, On the zodiac, Sun-like G-type star and Giant star — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.